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A German Pompadour Being the Extraordinary History of Wilhelmine van Grävenitz, Landhofmeisterin of Wirtemberg By: Marie Hay (1873-1938) |
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[Illustration: WILHELMINE REICHSGRÄFIN VON GRÄVENITZ. From a Portrait in the collection of Frau Anna Remshardt
at Heilbronn. ]
A GERMAN POMPADOUR Being the Extraordinary History of WILHELMINE VON GRÄVENITZ LANDHOFMEISTERIN OF WIRTEMBERG
A NARRATIVE OF
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
BY MARIE HAY
AUTHOR OF 'DIANNE DE POYTIERS' AND
'AN UNREQUITED LOYALTY'
[Illustration]
SECOND IMPRESSION
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1906 Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty
THIS
BOOK OF MEMORIES
IS DEDICATED TO A MEMORY
PREFACE 'The Past that is not overpast,
But present here.'
IN a dusty, time soiled packet of legal papers which had lain untouched
for nigh upon two hundred years, the extraordinary history of Wilhelmine
von Grävenitz is set forth in all the colourless reticence of official
documents. And yet something of the thrill of the superstitious fear, and
the virtuous disapproval of the lawyers who composed these writings,
pierces through the stilted phrases. Like a faint fragrance of faded
rose leaves, a breath of this woman's charm seems to cling and elusively
to peep out of the curt record of her crimes. Enough at least to incite
the wanderer in History's byways to a further study of this potent German
forerunner of the Pompadour. To search through the Stuttgart archives, to ferret out forgotten books
in dusty old book shops, to fit together the links in the chain of events
of the woman's story, to haunt the scenes of bygone splendour in deserted
palace and castle, old world garden and desolate mansion; such has been
the delightful labour which has gone to the telling of the true history
of the Grävenitz. The Land despoiler the downtrodden peasantry and
indignant burghers named her, for they hated her as their sort must ever
hate the beautiful, elegant, haughty woman of the great world. They
called her sinner, which she was; and she called them canaille, which
they probably were. And traces of all this linger in Württemberg.[1] They still deem the
Countess Grävenitz a subject to be mentioned with bated breath a thing
too evil, too terrible, for polite conversation. The very guides at
Ludwigsburg slur over her name, and if they go so far as to mention her,
they say: 'Ja, das war aber eine schlimme Dame,' and turn the talk to
something else. But her memory lives magnificently in the great palace
built for her, in her little 'Château Joyeux' of La Favorite, and in the
many beautiful properties which belonged to this extravagant
Land despoiler. She came to Württemberg when the country was at a low
financial ebb. Louis XIV. had preyed upon the land for years. Robber
raids they called these wars which he waged for trumped up pretexts.
After these invasions came the war of the Spanish succession, and
Württemberg lying on the high road from France to Austria, the
belligerent armies swept over the Swabian land on their way to battle.
The Duke of Württemberg, loyal to his Suzerain the Emperor at Vienna,
joined in the fray and fought bravely at the side of Marlborough and
Eugene of Savoy against the French terror. When Blenheim had been fought
and won, the war tide swept northwards to the Netherlands, leaving
Southern Germany for the nonce at rest, and Eberhard Ludwig of
Württemberg repaired to Stuttgart to attend to his Duchy's government.
Now began the love story of his life, the long drawn episode which made
his name a target for the gossip and scandal of early eighteenth century
Germany; the episode which changed the simple, stiff family life of the
Württemberg ducal circle to a brilliant, festive court, which travellers
tell us in their memoirs vied in magnificence with the glories of
Versailles itself. M. H. STUTTGART, 1905.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE INTRIGUE, 1
II. THE AVE MARIA, 13
III. THE FIRST STEP, 27
IV. THE JOURNEY, 50
V... Continue reading book >>
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